Marlon Ramos 

9/12/23

So there I was, little me, trying to give a presentation to my third grade math class in elementary school. Never in my life have I ever been so nervous and so frightened than how I was when I was presenting to that audience. Classmates looking directly at me with straight bored faces, the teacher sitting on his desk awaiting my presentation, the two kids gossiping to each other in the back, most likely about me. All these things running through a little boy’s mind, my mind, but why. Let’s take a refresher course; back when I was in pre-k, all of the students had their own caterpillars that they would have to watch over and attend to make sure that they were healthy, so that when the day came and they finally became butterflies, we could all release them. I was always saying, “mine is going to be the biggest one, bigger than all of yours!” but the rest of the kids didn’t believe me, and they laughed too. Everyday I said the same thing, and everyday I’d make sure that there were freshly cut leaves and little droplets of water in their tank. But when the day finally came to release our newly born butterflies, mine was the only one, stuck in its chrysalis. I was devastated, I looked after that caterpillar like it was my own baby, but my baby didn’t want to be born and see his father. When it was time to release the butterflies, everyone had smiles on their faces and laughed seeing those butterflies soar through the air, everyone but me. Those smiles and laughs quickly turned towards me when they realized I hadn’t released any butterfly, that my butterfly didn’t even become one. I was the laughing stock that day, the boy who said that his butterfly would be the biggest, turned out to be non-existent. They tormented me with lines like, “Hey, maybe your caterpillar didn’t like you” or “you suck at taking care of butterflies”. It was after this day that I was scared of representing myself or my things to others. Remembering this time the day of my math presentation, I promised myself that things would be different and that the audience wouldn’t laugh at me because they were teasing me, but because I had said something funny. It wasn’t easy, I stumbled on my sentences and stuttered over my words, and the kids in the back definitely couldn’t even hear me, I thought I was a terrible presenter. My panic rushed to me and I dashed to the bathroom, saying that I really had to go pee. While looking at myself in the mirror, I told myself that I could do it, and that I would present without being scared, so I went back to present. Of Course I was still scared, but that didn’t matter, my bravery took over and made me speak more clearly and louder. I slayed that presentation, and made the rest of the kids giggle a little bit. After that day, I would always try to incorporate jokes into my language, trying to get the listener to enjoy what I was saying by making it funny. No longer the class joke, but the class comedian. 

As the days went on I grew to be a fifth grader, a slight older version of myself who made new friends, presented much harder presentations, and grew out of my comfort zone to talk to new people. Continuing on in my comedic endevours whenever I talked to someone new, trying to make them laugh and have a good time while they talked to me. Not only did I talk to people in a comedic way, but I also tried my very best to always communicate respectfully to everyone. I was a good kid who hated getting into fights and arguments as it always made my head hurt from the amount of sadness I would feel after, so speaking to people disrespectfully was never on my agenda. Behaving good and always doing my classwork won me the valedictorian award in my elementary school, so I then had to give the biggest presentation of my life, had to present to over 100 people. Making my speech, I did so in a way where all the people in my life who helped and supported me felt a great level of being appreciated when hearing my speech. I did this because I speak in a way where I don’t like leaving people left out, or feeling like they’re not being heard or listened to. In other words, when communicating with others, I tend to make sure everyone is involved with the conversation or with what I’m saying. My speech made sure to include everyone who was listening to it in the big auditorium I was presenting in, even people I didn’t know. I was trying my best to speak very slowly, trying to breathe normally and look at the audience to the best of my ability because just reading something to somebody is a lot less meaningful than talking to someone and looking at them. I said my speech and told everyone “thank you for listening and hope you have a wonderful summer” and that was that. Everyone clapped and there was a lot of yelling but I knew I made my family and friends know that they were appreciated by me.